National Substance Abuse Prevention Month – Where To Start

“The majority of those who have a substance use disorder started using before age 18 and developed their disorder by age 20,” according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) > Principles of Adolescent Substance Use Disorder Treatment: A Research-Based Guide » Introduction. Given this fact, “What does effective substance abuse prevention look like — is…

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Want to Get Through to Teens – Talk to Their Brain

Want to Get Through to Teens – Talk to Their Brain – really! In my decade of research and writing on brain development and the brain disease of addiction, understanding the whole story about puberty and the brain’s evolution [see Image 2 below] gave me the pieces that finally completed the puzzle on how/why teens…

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Addiction – It’s Time to Tell the Whole Truth About Puberty

Addiction is a developmental disease that often begins in adolescence. It is a chronic, often relapsing brain disease, which is why the brain changes associated with puberty and ages 12-25 are so important to understand. So what is the brain / puberty / addiction connection? How does it relate to substance abuse, addiction, treatment, intervention,…

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